Re: flyfishing at Rainbow Springs Ranch

[johnny costanza]

Last weekend I visited Rainbow Springs Ranch and took a walk around their 
property to investigate the fishing opportunities there.  Let me first begin 
by saying how genuinely friendly and accomodating the couple who owns the 
ranch were to me.  They gave me a key to check out the cabin they have for 
rent (which was really nice, first class) and allowed me to freely walk 
around their property to check things out.  As for the fishing, the primary 
spots to fish are the two ponds (one natural, one man made) they have on 
their ranch.  The first pond is the man made pond and does hold some very 
large Kamloops rainbows in it, though it does have an "artificial" feel to 
it.  The pond is quite small and all fishing would be done from shore as 
there is really no need for a boat or float tube on a body of water this 
small in size.  Though I did not ask them, my suspicion is that these fish 
are fed similiarly to those in the net pens at Rufus Woods and thus are not 
going to be very selective in thier eating habits.  When I stood on the 
dock, instead of swimming away, the fish all swam up and "gathered around" 
as if they were expecting to be fed something.  Though not a technical 
fishery by any means, it would be a great place to take a young kid or 
anyone who has never fly fished before.  One could, even with litle or no 
skill, likely catch a lot of fish over the course of the day, most of which 
would be 2-4 lbs in size with the possibility of catching a few bigger than 
that.

The back pond is spring fed and not man made, thus it does not have the 
artifiical look or feel of the first pond.  It is surronded by trees and 
actually is situated in a very scenic setting.  The cabin they have for rent 
is right next to the pond (which is a little larger than the first pond, but 
you still would do all your fishing from the shore).  The fish were not as 
large, seemed a bit more wary than the fish in the first pond (but not too 
much), and likely would be a bit more difficult to catch.  The owners said 
that the back pond is inhabitated by a strain of trout that is 
"half-steelhead" in addition to the wild brook trout native to the spring 
creeks that run through their property.  The spring creeks themselves are 
very small and I did not think that they would be very fishable considering 
their size, although the guy who owns the place said that he had caught 
brook trout up to 14 inches in the creeks.

All in all, I was impressed with the place, although I would not recommend 
it to anyone who is looking for highly technical or challenging fishing.  
For 80 bucks a night, you get two ponds to fish in addition to a home made 
breakfast and other amenities you would not get at most hotels.  It is very 
quiet and the solitude I think of the place is one of its greatest selling 
points.  You can also fish for 50 bucks a day if you do not want to stay 
overnight, but I think if I was ever going to fish here I would split the 80 
bucks with someone and stay in the cabin for a night.

From: Kent Lufkin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: waflyfishers@waflyfishers.com
To: waflyfishers@waflyfishers.com
Subject: Re: flyfishing at Rainbow Springs Ranch
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 08:27:57 -0800
Johnny,
I'd be interested in learning what you found when you have time to post a 
report.

Thanks,
K
I was curious to know, particularly from anyone living in the Spokane 
area, what the fishing was like at Rainbow Springs Ranch about 20 miles 
north of Spokane off Hwy 2 near Deer Park and Eloika lake.  They have a 
website and I contacted them last year about fishing the ranch, which 
supposedly has a spring fed natural pond and one man-made pond open for 
fishing, in addition to some smaller spring fed creeks running through the 
property.  It sounds intriguing, and I was thinking about driving there 
tomorrow since it is so close to check it out.  The downside is its a pay 
for play situation, but I believe its 50 bucks a day to fish the property, 
although maybe less during this part of the season.  If anyone has fished 
there or evem been there to check the place out, I would be interested to 
hear your thoughts about the place.  Thanks in advance.